Ebay's jour friend, by the way. Seriously, I don't see any reason why I should use a DS for doing stuff that's a lot better integrated into my mobile phone. Let alone the ability to sync your contacts and calendar stuff to your computer which seems to be a little difficult for DSOrganize, at the moment. I know, that looking stupid argument might not be that good, but still I wouldn't bring a DS to a corporate meeting.
By the way: I don't have a Blackberry, if that's what you think. My old Siemens S55 did a pretty good job for four years, now, and I just recently bought me a Nokia E65 for 5.
So choose games other than those that use Starforce. Instead, install games that are free software, freeware, or reputable shareware. The difference between PCs and consoles is that it's much easier to install such games on a PC.
So what do those games mostly have in common? Non-PC nerdy graphics, usually small budgets, i.e. nothing that would make it mandatory to use a copy protection scheme in the first place, let alone publishing them on console. Every high-profile title has some sort of copy protection.
For one thing, play games self-published by smaller developers. Or on a handheld such as the DS, use Colors! or DSOrganize or MoonShell.
Yeah right. Definitely. I suppose I'd rather load such things onto my mobile phone for various reasons. One of them being not looking stupid when checking my appointments and stuff in front of other people. Seriously, consoles are made for gaming or doing basic multimedia stuff. For everything else, get a PC or a Pocket PC. That's what those were made for. Everything else is just for show-off value (like: "Look, I can do this with my DS. Don't call it a child's toy!!!")
Yes there is. Low-end is Pocket PC and DS; mid-end is PSP, PS2, Wii, notebook PCs, and desktop PCs with integrated graphics or an AGP video card; high-end is Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, and desktop PCs with a PCIe video card. The article is just a whine that Epic doesn't know how to target anything but the high end. Does Epic Games just want to get bought by Sony like the other Epic?
Just check the last games Epic has released. Of course they want to appeal to graphics whores. There's no other reason FPS games exist in the first place. Remember the Wii version of FarCry (non-EPIC, I know)? Besides, this thread is about games from a graphics whore's perspective which clearly disqualifies the PC and all those low and middle-end consoles. You can of course try to release a game across those platforms, but it would be like designing three different games. Which was the reason why I said that there's no low-end, middle-end or high-end for consoles. Every type, generation or whatever you call it has its own set of games specifically developed for it. The only ones trying and frequently screwing up doing it are EA.
I guess, I was still a little pissed because of another comment here. Dunno why I posted this in the first place. Probably because of the big nerdy PC-erections or something. Nevermind. Guess we share that opinion.
No. They want to sell one game on as many platforms as possible. At the moment it seems like PC game devs and graphics card manufacturers are just trying hard to show that they can do better than those "next-gen" consoles while the rest of the world apparently doesn't give a crap (except for those PC gaming nerds getting big powerful... just watch that Zero Punctuation video about Crysis). Those with a small portion sanity left go for a console, because it is cheaper than such a power gaming rig, anyway.
Yes, he implies that you should be buying a console, instead (probably a PS3, because the X360 has numerous serious problems, yet), because a PC is basically a CPU shoving some data to a GPU doing the real job. Considering that the costs for one of those High-End beasts rival those of an Xbox 360 or a PS3, why should I even bother buying such a thing, in the first place?
Yes, consoles do have lockouts all over the place, but you know what: PC games have those, as well. Think about the horrible Starforce copy protection scheme. That thing could even break your entire PC, if you were unlucky enough. What else would you wanna do on a console, anyway? Pirating games might come into my mind. Okay, I have to admit that I hate those import barriers, but at least the PS3 got rid of those barriers, so there's just piracy left. Besides, on a console there's no Low-End or High-End, but only one spec to optimize your games for. Game devs usually love to optimize games to run as good as possible (except for those EA guys).
So, basically, this is an article written i favor of the PC as a general-purpose machine (that's the reason why x86 is still alive, anyway), but not as a gaming powerhouse. It's way too expensive for that and you'll always be upgrading in order to keep up with the latest and greatest (except for those indie games he was talking about). Consoles don't have such problems, because their full potential takes some time to be fully unleashed, depending on the skill of those who program for them.
But that's the point of the GPL. You aren't allowed to link it to GPL-incompatible code. If you want this, then you'll have to release it under LGPL terms which permits such things. This is the same reason why MAME will never be built against Qt, simply because the MAME license is not compatible to the GPL. Trolltech, however, can grant exceptions to certain licenses, although I don't know which clause permits them to do so.
My point is: Why does every minister of any Departement (and especially our good old Wolfgang Schäuble) feel the urge of having to test the boundaries of our constitution? Jumping the bandwagon of paranoid countries giving up human rights for a false feeling of security is soooooo yesterday.
Why has a Supreme Court to tell politicians that their laws are against the constitution? Wasn't that obvious in the first place?
Besides, this is not the first law being overturned for human rights reasons. The German Secretary of Defense had passed a law to grant the military the right to shoot down a high-jacked aeroplane full of civilians.
It seems like our politicians have forgotten how our last dictator (aka unser Führer) became as powerful as he did: By passing laws to abolish human rights under the coat of stabilizing the country. Only did he have the Supreme Court on HIS side.
Because the consumer wants to run Microsoft Windows and applications made for Microsoft Windows on it. You can't just compile an entire software catalog to PPC within a week. However, this could "Spur" the development of applications for the Cell running on Windows and with growing adoption Microsoft might even start porting some of its own libraries. History might be in the making. Watch it unfold.
And I find AAC files sound better than both MP3 and WMA files (independent tests find that, too, by the way). Plus they work a lot better with Linux apps. You know, AAC is a mostly open format with easy-to-legally-avoid patent hassles. WMA, on the other hand, had to be completely reverse-engineered by FFmpeg in order to work on other platforms and I'm not so sure about legal issues with that.
And don't forget the fact that the only way to connect a Zune to a Linux machine is a VMware'd Windows. Which I won't install just for managing music with my machine.
Whoops, looks like I was wrong. However, this last part is easy to leave out, if you want to spare your kids the horror (which my parents had obviously wanted). By the way, I remember even more horrific stories, e.g. the story of a man (supposedly a prince or something) who was living with some animals. On some occasion he got himself decapitated and the animals found some herb to revive him. Unfortunately they put his head the wrong way, so one of the animals (the bear) tore it off again to put it back on correctly.
Do you think the German national ID is any different? Of course, you have a number on it and if some cop looks that number up, he'll get information nationwide. But please don't tell me anything about points of history. There's been a lot of crap going on in our country nationally, too, but still no one would question those ID cards. Actually, being too much focused on states' authority isn't the best option either. Having sixteen different school systems in one country is one example of how federalism can go the wrong way.
By the way: If you have followed Slashdot, recently, you might have noticed a few things going on in Germany, lately. Nevertheless, this would never open a debate about our ID cards.
Just for the records: I have an ID card. I carry it with me, in case something might happen to me in order to be identified. In fact, this is the only reason why you might need to carry around your ID. Noone requires you to (unlike your driver's license). And no, there's no RFID chip inside.
Other uses: Age verification, Passport when travelling inside Europe, identity verification at authorities.
Again, I've grown up in Germany which is the country the Grimms grew up. My parents told me these stories and I know a lot of people who are stll telling their children the same good old "Ruckety-goo! Ruckety-goo! Blood in the shoe! Blood in the shoe!" story. By the way: No, the pigeons didn't peck out their eyes. They just told the prince that he was riding with an impostor. Don't know where you got that one from.
Requiring a national ID (something all countries around the world except for the US have) as an age verification would be enough. That's no 1984/big bro system whatsoever.
You know, the main difference between Hollywood and games is the "me" aspect. That's why the Silent Hill game creeps the heck out of me while the movie was in no aspect scary. You are the one responsible for the actions of your character in contrast to the passive mode you are assuming when watching a movie.
And if there are enough irresponsible dickhead parents around you breeding his/her friends/classmates, guess who will have influence over your child...
I have a better idea. Instead of punishing the store manager (who probably makes little more than rest of the peons working there), why not punish the f'ing parents for letting their kid buy games unsupervised to begin with? Oh wait, they're not responsible for their own kids, everyone else is right?
Not bad. Why not punish both? However, most parents have "no idea that [their] children were playing such games and how they could have gained access to them". You can't supervise any single family for such things. By the way and totally unrelated: In Germany (another german example) the law says that parents are responsible for crimes their children commit until they turn seven and after that an expert decides whether they can be held responsible for their actions or not. Noone sues ten-year-olds. In other words, parents are forced to look after their children by law.
It's something about giving parents back some ability of teaching their children what is wrong and what is right, I guess. If you were a parent trying to give your child some proper education in that aspect, the effect might be somehow negated if you kid continues playing Manhunt, afterwards. And no, parents can't control which games their children are playing if they're not looking. And yes, I doubt that these laws will be very effective in preventing children from playing such crap, if there are enough parents out there who just don't care.
You books are an interesting example, by the way. You know, those old fairy-tales by the Grimm Bros. were rather cruel, but still parents read them to their children, because they teach them something about consequences. This is something most games don't teach you, because driving over people in GTA3 is fun and the consequences are little. That's why those games are designed for peole with a solid base of morals who can realize that the world of GTA is not connected to the real world. People who can see behind the cruelty of Manhunt and get the real meaning of that game. Twelve-year-olds, on the other hand, can't do this always.
What about a store that sells unrated or R movies to children? All media or none, otherwise the constitutional bar isn't met.
Bravo! Good idea. Honestly. Someone should propose that one to her.
Chilling Effect. So yes, it does effect adults.
You seem to have a pretty awkward point of view, here. No game developer is penalized for making 18+ games and so is no store selling 18+ stuff to 18+ people.
You see, in Germany there's this example of movie rentals. These stores got a separate 18+ section where they look at you twice before letting you inside. Following your logic, those sectiones should have closed down because of the fear of being punished for letting minors rent adult stuff. Instead they just follow the existing rules (which are pretty tight in Germany) and nobody complains. The only people who might feel a little uncertain are those leaving those sections, because everyone will think they just rented pr0n.
Slashdot Mirror
That's, like, one exception? Good to see one of those, anyway.
Didn't expect you to be that cheap ;)
Ebay's jour friend, by the way. Seriously, I don't see any reason why I should use a DS for doing stuff that's a lot better integrated into my mobile phone. Let alone the ability to sync your contacts and calendar stuff to your computer which seems to be a little difficult for DSOrganize, at the moment. I know, that looking stupid argument might not be that good, but still I wouldn't bring a DS to a corporate meeting.
By the way: I don't have a Blackberry, if that's what you think. My old Siemens S55 did a pretty good job for four years, now, and I just recently bought me a Nokia E65 for 5.
I guess, I was still a little pissed because of another comment here. Dunno why I posted this in the first place. Probably because of the big nerdy PC-erections or something. Nevermind. Guess we share that opinion.
No. They want to sell one game on as many platforms as possible. At the moment it seems like PC game devs and graphics card manufacturers are just trying hard to show that they can do better than those "next-gen" consoles while the rest of the world apparently doesn't give a crap (except for those PC gaming nerds getting big powerful ... just watch that Zero Punctuation video about Crysis). Those with a small portion sanity left go for a console, because it is cheaper than such a power gaming rig, anyway.
Gaming is general-purpose computing? How come?
Yes, he implies that you should be buying a console, instead (probably a PS3, because the X360 has numerous serious problems, yet), because a PC is basically a CPU shoving some data to a GPU doing the real job. Considering that the costs for one of those High-End beasts rival those of an Xbox 360 or a PS3, why should I even bother buying such a thing, in the first place?
Yes, consoles do have lockouts all over the place, but you know what: PC games have those, as well. Think about the horrible Starforce copy protection scheme. That thing could even break your entire PC, if you were unlucky enough. What else would you wanna do on a console, anyway? Pirating games might come into my mind. Okay, I have to admit that I hate those import barriers, but at least the PS3 got rid of those barriers, so there's just piracy left. Besides, on a console there's no Low-End or High-End, but only one spec to optimize your games for. Game devs usually love to optimize games to run as good as possible (except for those EA guys).
So, basically, this is an article written i favor of the PC as a general-purpose machine (that's the reason why x86 is still alive, anyway), but not as a gaming powerhouse. It's way too expensive for that and you'll always be upgrading in order to keep up with the latest and greatest (except for those indie games he was talking about). Consoles don't have such problems, because their full potential takes some time to be fully unleashed, depending on the skill of those who program for them.
Other than giving people goosebumps? Guess why people buy caffeinated shampoo... Pointy hair looks sooooo sexy...
Thanks for clearing that one up. I had somehow trouble understanding that part.
But that's the point of the GPL. You aren't allowed to link it to GPL-incompatible code. If you want this, then you'll have to release it under LGPL terms which permits such things. This is the same reason why MAME will never be built against Qt, simply because the MAME license is not compatible to the GPL. Trolltech, however, can grant exceptions to certain licenses, although I don't know which clause permits them to do so.
Anyone want to bet how long it takes Immersion to sue them?
Thanks for asking my rhetorical question ;)
My point is: Why does every minister of any Departement (and especially our good old Wolfgang Schäuble) feel the urge of having to test the boundaries of our constitution? Jumping the bandwagon of paranoid countries giving up human rights for a false feeling of security is soooooo yesterday.
Why has a Supreme Court to tell politicians that their laws are against the constitution? Wasn't that obvious in the first place?
Besides, this is not the first law being overturned for human rights reasons. The German Secretary of Defense had passed a law to grant the military the right to shoot down a high-jacked aeroplane full of civilians.
It seems like our politicians have forgotten how our last dictator (aka unser Führer) became as powerful as he did: By passing laws to abolish human rights under the coat of stabilizing the country. Only did he have the Supreme Court on HIS side.
...while they're at it. Just take a look at their idea of selling music.
That's Mr. Capitalisation of Major Words to you, not Mr. Arbitrary Capitalisation (That guy's a freak!). Ever seen a newspaper headline?
Because the consumer wants to run Microsoft Windows and applications made for Microsoft Windows on it. You can't just compile an entire software catalog to PPC within a week. However, this could "Spur" the development of applications for the Cell running on Windows and with growing adoption Microsoft might even start porting some of its own libraries. History might be in the making. Watch it unfold.
And I find AAC files sound better than both MP3 and WMA files (independent tests find that, too, by the way). Plus they work a lot better with Linux apps. You know, AAC is a mostly open format with easy-to-legally-avoid patent hassles. WMA, on the other hand, had to be completely reverse-engineered by FFmpeg in order to work on other platforms and I'm not so sure about legal issues with that.
And don't forget the fact that the only way to connect a Zune to a Linux machine is a VMware'd Windows. Which I won't install just for managing music with my machine.
Whoops, looks like I was wrong. However, this last part is easy to leave out, if you want to spare your kids the horror (which my parents had obviously wanted). By the way, I remember even more horrific stories, e.g. the story of a man (supposedly a prince or something) who was living with some animals. On some occasion he got himself decapitated and the animals found some herb to revive him. Unfortunately they put his head the wrong way, so one of the animals (the bear) tore it off again to put it back on correctly.
Do you think the German national ID is any different? Of course, you have a number on it and if some cop looks that number up, he'll get information nationwide. But please don't tell me anything about points of history. There's been a lot of crap going on in our country nationally, too, but still no one would question those ID cards. Actually, being too much focused on states' authority isn't the best option either. Having sixteen different school systems in one country is one example of how federalism can go the wrong way.
By the way: If you have followed Slashdot, recently, you might have noticed a few things going on in Germany, lately. Nevertheless, this would never open a debate about our ID cards.
Just for the records: I have an ID card. I carry it with me, in case something might happen to me in order to be identified. In fact, this is the only reason why you might need to carry around your ID. Noone requires you to (unlike your driver's license). And no, there's no RFID chip inside.
Other uses: Age verification, Passport when travelling inside Europe, identity verification at authorities.
Again, I've grown up in Germany which is the country the Grimms grew up. My parents told me these stories and I know a lot of people who are stll telling their children the same good old "Ruckety-goo! Ruckety-goo! Blood in the shoe! Blood in the shoe!" story. By the way: No, the pigeons didn't peck out their eyes. They just told the prince that he was riding with an impostor. Don't know where you got that one from.
Requiring a national ID (something all countries around the world except for the US have) as an age verification would be enough. That's no 1984/big bro system whatsoever.
You know, the main difference between Hollywood and games is the "me" aspect. That's why the Silent Hill game creeps the heck out of me while the movie was in no aspect scary. You are the one responsible for the actions of your character in contrast to the passive mode you are assuming when watching a movie.
And if there are enough irresponsible dickhead parents around you breeding his/her friends/classmates, guess who will have influence over your child...
I have a better idea. Instead of punishing the store manager (who probably makes little more than rest of the peons working there), why not punish the f'ing parents for letting their kid buy games unsupervised to begin with? Oh wait, they're not responsible for their own kids, everyone else is right?
Not bad. Why not punish both? However, most parents have "no idea that [their] children were playing such games and how they could have gained access to them". You can't supervise any single family for such things. By the way and totally unrelated: In Germany (another german example) the law says that parents are responsible for crimes their children commit until they turn seven and after that an expert decides whether they can be held responsible for their actions or not. Noone sues ten-year-olds. In other words, parents are forced to look after their children by law.
It's something about giving parents back some ability of teaching their children what is wrong and what is right, I guess. If you were a parent trying to give your child some proper education in that aspect, the effect might be somehow negated if you kid continues playing Manhunt, afterwards. And no, parents can't control which games their children are playing if they're not looking. And yes, I doubt that these laws will be very effective in preventing children from playing such crap, if there are enough parents out there who just don't care.
You books are an interesting example, by the way. You know, those old fairy-tales by the Grimm Bros. were rather cruel, but still parents read them to their children, because they teach them something about consequences. This is something most games don't teach you, because driving over people in GTA3 is fun and the consequences are little. That's why those games are designed for peole with a solid base of morals who can realize that the world of GTA is not connected to the real world. People who can see behind the cruelty of Manhunt and get the real meaning of that game. Twelve-year-olds, on the other hand, can't do this always.
What about a store that sells unrated or R movies to children? All media or none, otherwise the constitutional bar isn't met.
Bravo! Good idea. Honestly. Someone should propose that one to her.
Chilling Effect. So yes, it does effect adults.
You seem to have a pretty awkward point of view, here. No game developer is penalized for making 18+ games and so is no store selling 18+ stuff to 18+ people.
You see, in Germany there's this example of movie rentals. These stores got a separate 18+ section where they look at you twice before letting you inside. Following your logic, those sectiones should have closed down because of the fear of being punished for letting minors rent adult stuff. Instead they just follow the existing rules (which are pretty tight in Germany) and nobody complains. The only people who might feel a little uncertain are those leaving those sections, because everyone will think they just rented pr0n.